Dying Was His Reason for Living
The Twist: What Does the Resurrection Mean?
Brad Crocker
Landmark Christian Church, Chippewa Falls, WI
3/2/2004
In April of the year 2000, there was a car crash in Japan. Sadly, a man died in the accident. When the police came to examine the body, witnesses at the scene said they recognized the car and though the injuries disfigured the body, they also recognized the dead man. He was a 60-year-old local shipbuilder. This man’s family was contacted and a brother-in-law was able to come to the scene. "Yes," he said, "That’s him. That’s my brother-in-law." He took the tragic news back to the family. Calls were made. The family quickly gathered that very afternoon at the home of the widow.
There they were immersed in mourning: weeping, embracing, sharing memories, making funeral plans.
Then the door opened and in walked the 60-year-old local shipbuilder, home from a hard day’s work and wondering why all the relatives had come over to his house.
No, it was not a resurrection. It was a misidentification. The man at the car crash was not the man they thought he was, so the family called the police and told them to start their identification process over, because the "dead man" had just walked into their living room.
It would have been interesting to have been in that living room to see the change that came over the family when they realized their loved one was not dead after all: from tears to smiles, from devastation to elation, from mourning to dancing. They must have felt like death had been defeated in their home. But, of course, death had not been defeated; it had just been misplaced. Their joy meant some other family’s sorrow, and the local shipbuilder will someday himself succumb to the power of death.
In reference to The Passion of the Christ, I heard someone say in surprise that the movie was not uplifting, but depressing. Yeah. A little bit like sitting with the family in that living room while they thought the man was dead would have been more depressing than uplifting. The narrow scope of The Passion is just Jesus’ brutal, lonely march to death. And if you think it was hard for you to take, imagine you were Mary or one of the disciples.
The disciples not only loved this man, they had been convinced that He was the Messiah, the One the prophets had said would come to rescue Israel from the hand of her oppressors and usher in the Kingdom of God. He was to be the righteous king, who would not rule with the iron fist of Rome or the self-serving hypocrisy of many of the religious leaders. He would shepherd Israel with all the love, goodness and power of God. The miraculous healings He had done over and over pointed to the total healing they were certain he would bring to the entire nation. The amazing truths He had taught pointed to the wisdom with which he would rule as the next David, the just and powerful king. And they, his hand picked followers, would be generals in His holy army and advisors in His ruling council.
Then, He’s dead. Half a day after being arrested, without even putting up a fight or even speaking in His own defense, He’s hanging on a cross, then buried in a tomb. Jesus had failed as Messiah, and they had failed as His followers, having run when He needed them most.
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, as Peter had declared, was dead. Hope went to the grave with Him. Their future lost, their courage evaporated, the disciples cower in a locked room by themselves - way beyond mourning - utter desolation.
What they had forgotten were Jesus’ own words the very night of His arrest.
Read John 16:20-22.
The movie gives only the briefest glimpse of Jesus’ resurrection, but in the Bible it is the crucial event. It is the turning point of the lives of those first followers and the event that catapulted faith in Jesus beyond this small circle to the entire world.
The shipbuilder’s family must have been overjoyed when he walked in the door. But when the disciples realized that Jesus was alive, they were infused with a joy that, as Jesus said, no one would ever take away. That man had a greater duration of life than his family thought, but the meaning of life and its ultimate outcome were the same as the day before. When Jesus walked out of that tomb, the structures of the world itself fundamentally changed. The meaning of life and its ultimate outcome were recalibrated in a way that leaves not only the original disciples, but us today as well, with a joy that no person or event can ever take away.
Let’s talk about what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for us today. Jesus Himself captured the significance of His rising from the dead in two statements that He made.
1. "I am with you always."
In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promised, "I am with you always, even to the very end of the age." Because Jesus is alive, His followers are not alone. We have the Son of God as our partner in life, every step of the way.
A man went on vacation to the Holy Land with his wife and her mother. While in Israel, the mother-in-law died from a heart attack. The couple went to a local undertaker, who explained that they could either ship the body home which would cost more than $1500, or they could bury her right there in the Holy Land for only $150.
The man said, "We’ll ship her home."
Surprised, the undertaker responded, "Are you sure? That’s an awfully big expense, and we can do a very nice burial here."
The man said, "Look, 2000 years ago they buried a guy here and three days later He rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance."
If someone is alive, he/she is still with you: Bad news for this guy with his mother-in-law, but unparalleled good news for us. We can go through life with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as our partner, our companion, our mentor, our daily instructor in how to live, our friend.
There have been other great spiritual and ethical teachers throughout the history of the world: Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, Muhammad. The one thing they all have in common is, they’re all dead. Their followers can read their ideas and try to implement them, but they can’t actually have these teachers as their companions.
Jesus is alive. He rose from the dead. Which means he can be with us on every step of our journey.
[Read John 14:18-20]
If I were to pass away, I could, before I died, leave written personal instructions to my 3 sons on how to live. These would be a great help to them. But how much better for me to go on living and be there for them every day - there to teach them, guide them, listen to them, cheer for them, discipline them, (okay, I admit it - yell at them), play with them, explore with them, enjoy them, love them, and - what they care most about - buy things for them.
If Jesus were dead, I could still have His written instructions. That would be helpful. But since He is with me, I have a joy that nothing can ever take away. Jesus is alive to teach me, guide me, listen to me, cheer for me, discipline me without yelling at me, play with me, explore with me, enjoy me, love me, and, yes, even buy things for me (He bought my eternal life with His blood).
William Frey, retired Episcopal bishop from Colorado, told the following story:
When I was a younger man, I volunteered to read to a degree student named
John who was blind.
One day I asked him, "How did you lose your sight?"
"A chemical explosion," John said, "at the age of thirteen."
"How did that make you feel?" I asked.
"Life was over. I felt helpless. I hated God," John responded. "For the first six
months I did nothing to improve my lot in life. I would eat all my meals alone in my room. One day my father entered my room and said, ’John, winter’s coming and the storm windows need to be up-that’s your job. I want those hung by the time I get back this evening or else!’
"Then he turned, walked out of the room and slammed the door. I got so angry.
I thought, "Who does he think I am? I’m blind!" I was so angry I decided to do it. I felt my way to the garage, found the windows, located the necessary tools, found the ladder, all the while muttering under my breath, ’I’ll show them. I’ll fall, then they’ll have a blind and paralyzed son!’"
John continued, "I got the windows up. I found out later that never at any
moment was my father more than four or five feet away from my side."
[Citation: William Frey, "When Words Come To an End," Message delivered at Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, Alabama (July 2003)]
Whatever you go through, wherever you are, whatever task God calls you to undertake, whatever trial you have to endure, whatever delights you enjoy or heartbreaks you suffer, because Jesus is alive, He will never, at any moment be away from your side.
"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
"I will see you again, and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."
Then there is another statement of Jesus that brings us joy because of His resurrected life.
2. "Because I live, you also will live."
[Read John14:19] With Jesus our living partner, our friend and companion, we really live here on earth. But I think with this statement, Jesus is pointing beyond this life to the life that never ends. Jesus was the Captain Kirk of life and death. When He rose from the dead to live everlasting, He went where no man had gone before. No one had ever died and then been raised up never to die again. But Jesus’ doing it was not a singular incident. Rather, it was Jesus blazing a trail that we all can follow.
[Read John 11:25-26]
During the Middle Ages, many speculated about the possibility of a sea route from Europe to India around the southern tip of Africa. Mariners doubted that it could be done because of the storms at the point where the Atlantic and Indian oceans met. These violent weather conditions caused the point to be called the Cape of Storms.
In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese explorer, Vasco De Gama, successfully rounded the Cape of Storms and found beyond those wild waters a great calm sea and beyond that, India. No more could people doubt that such a route could be taken. The name of that point was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope.
Death had been the cape of storms, the point at which all the hopes of life had been dashed, until Jesus rounded that cape and returned to life. We now see death as the cape of good hope, as the passageway into an infinitely superior life. At His resurrection, Jesus led the way from death to life. If we follow along His path, when we round that cape of death, we will come out on the spectacular sea of life everlasting.
And not just to life that never ends, but life that is the best life each of us could possibly have.
[Read John 14:1-3]
Jesus rose from the dead to build a heaven for you - a forever home made just right for you. Because He lives, you can live with Him forever in the place of your dreams, designed for you by the one who designed you before the world began.
But there’s something more to this wonderful promise of Jesus that we don’t often notice because of the chapter break. What does Jesus say right before He says, "Let not your heart be troubled"?
[Read John 13:36-14:1]
Jesus’ promise of beautiful hope comes right on the heels of His prediction of ugly failure. "Peter, you are going to fail me miserably. Far from being the brave warrior you envision yourself to be, you will be a coward, intimidated by servant girls into denying that you even know me. But don’t be troubled. Despite that, I love you and will go make a perfect home that we will share forever. You will disown me, but I will never disown you."
Like Peter, all of us have failed Jesus. We have all grown fearful of people and lost our nerve, misplaced our priorities. We have all disappointed Jesus. But His promise is not based on our perfection, but His victory.
Through His suffering and death, Jesus paid the price for our wrongdoing, defeating sin. Then, by rising from the dead, Jesus dealt a death-blow to death. There were two great human enemies, sin and the grave. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus defeated them both.
So now there is nothing to stop us from living forever in His heavenly mansions. He offers forgiveness of sin as a gift we didn’t deserve or earn, and He leads the way to life beyond the grave.
[Read John 11:25-26]
Winston Churchill planned his own funeral, which took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s, after the benediction intoned the haunting melody of Taps. The melancholy air gave the universal signal that Churchill’s day had come to an end.
But as soon as Taps had ended, Churchill had instructed another bugler, placed on the other side of the dome, to play Reveille: It’s time to get up in the morning. That was Churchill’s testimony that the last note of his time on earth was not Taps, a final end, but Reveille, a new beginning.
[From John Claypool, Leadership, Vol. 12, No. 1]
Most of us have recently witnessed Taps being played for Christ - the awful hours that led to that final moment in which darkness fell, Jesus died, and Taps moaned for all humanity.
That was not, however, the last note. Sunday morning, the bugle rang out with a new strain, Reveille. Time for Jesus to get up, step out of that tomb and stride into the morning of eternity.
Unless Jesus first returns, Taps will sound for you someday. The same bugler that trumpeted Reveille for Jesus on that resurrection morning will play for you as well. Death will not be the final twilight, but a new and vastly more glorious morning.
Will this new morning dawn for you? It becomes ours when we follow Jesus from death to life. So the question of the moment is, have you, by faith, put your life on His path?
